October 25, 2015 – FairWarning.org has published a chart which shows that USPS tops the list for whistleblower retaliation complaints. According to the FairWarning.org,chart below, there were 578 complaints lodged against USPS covering an eight-year period of Oct. 01, 2007 and June 30, 2015. Railroad companies dominated the list with seven (7) in the top ten. see also AllGov
In a recent whistleblower lawsuit against USPS, the Department of Labor (DOL) had requested broad “injunctive relief, nationwide in scope, to vindicate the public interest in promoting safe workplaces and protecting those who dare to advocate for them.” USPS was ordered to pay a postal employee $229,000.00 in damages for whistleblower retaliation. The DOL proposed injunction included prohibitions:
- against taking adverse action against any Postal Service employee on account of her or his protected activity
- against establishing working conditions designed to retaliate or harass a complaining employee, and
- against failing to train any Postal Service employee of her or his rights under the OSH Act.
FairWarning.org also reported that nearly 1 in 5 OSHA Whistleblower probes are flawed
Federal officials responsible for protecting whistleblowers and examining their claims of employer retaliation are mishandling nearly one in five of their investigations, a government watchdog reports.
A review by the inspector general of the U.S. Labor Department found that 18 percent of the investigations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration lack one or more of seven “essential elements.”
In addition, the inspector general found that 72 percent of the OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program investigations it reviewed missed deadlines imposed by federal law.
Below are recent whistleblower retaliation cases and news:
DOL wanted injunction against USPS to protect whistleblowers in all postal facilities
Appeals Court Upholds Demotion Of Postal Manager Claiming Whistleblower Retaliation
USPS, DOL settle cases over heat hazards and retaliation of postal worker who called 911
DOL sues USPS on whistleblower retaliation against postal worker
Department of Labor Sues USPS for Whistleblower Violations
Postal Casual Employee fired following work-related injury at USPS facility
DOL Accuses USPS of Destroying Evidence in Whistleblower Case
Senator Grassley Works With Iowa Whistleblower to Expose USPS Contracting Problem
It really isn’t much of a surprise to see large corporations retaliate against employees who might expose any manner of wrongdoing, from safety and health violations to embezzling or some other corporate crimes. Most people accept that ratting on their employers will end up costing them their jobs and are not eager to blow the whistle, so to speak.
It is also no surprise that the Postal Service tops the list, as it is the largest U.S. employer, so one has to expect larger numbers of retaliation against those who just want a safe working environment. But even so, management incompetence and abuse in the USPS is legendary and well known to most workers in the country.
I’ve had customers many times tell me they felt sorry for us carriers because they had heard so many horror stories about how supervisors treated us. Not every office has that problem, but the fact that the number of retaliatory action against workers is high enough that a Congressional investigation would be in order.
When we consider how micromanaged letter carriers are, with no tolerance for even the most trivial mistake, like missing your estimated office time by three minutes, it’s very galling that they have no such oversight and constantly fail to do their jobs. I know some of these people who knew who to blow the right upper management people and got a cushy soft job, when as carriers they were absolutely bottom of the barrel. Piss poor attendance, willfully misdelivering mail to a customer they didn’t like because they thought it was funny, going to a restaurant and watching entire basketball games on the clock before returning to the office, being snitches, etc. These stories are true, and yet they get promoted.
Management doesn’t trust craft because they themselves can’t be trusted, and they assume workers are the same way. It’s similar to a jealous husband demanding to know where his wife is at all times so she won’t cheat, but he diddles somebody on the side himself. You can’t trust your co-workers in your district and Area offices, so you don’t trust anybody else, either. Well, skunks smell themselves first. I’ve said it before: there must be a totally independent committee set up to investigate postal management in all areas: working relationships, labor contract violations, abusive behavior, theft, and general incompetence. Better have a big group of people on that committee – they’ll have their hands full.
These are OSHA retaliation claim statistics which do not include EEO retaliation cases, which would be many times the number in this report.
All those surprised by this news, raise your hand…………………………………………………………………..no one then ?
I was retaliated against and eventually forced to take a disability retirement after I suffered through depression and anxiety. ……how do you sue for this …..osha told me it wasn’t retaliation although every time I filed a complaint I was removed from the service
Lie. cheat, break all the rules. These are our leaders. The biggest group of immoral,
unethical tools the world has ever seen. Fire them all.